The Rena oil spill is an environmental catastrophe. The effects on the local environment, community and economy will be felt for a long time. It has shown how impossible it is to deal with an oil spill and should be clear evidence for the New Zealand Government that its plans to open NZ waters to deep sea oil drilling should be dropped.

The latest updates

Oil companies and the Government need to be more open about the potential effects of an oil spill , writes Greenpeace's Simon Boxer.
There is no substitute for facts and figures," thundered the Dominion Post leader on deep-sea...

Right now I am in the Russian Arctic as part of a Greenpeace factfinding mission. We are near a town called Pyt'-Yah, in the Khanty-Mansi region of Siberia, which is surrounded by Rosneft oil fields, the largest public oil company in...

On May 26, oil began flowing down the Kolva River through Komi Indigenous land in Northern Russia. For a week now the oil has been coating the river and building up on the banks, with no reaction from Rusvietpetro, the joint venture...

What can I do?

A public health warning has been issued and people are advised to avoid skin contact with the oil, water and shoreline until further notice. "No shellfish and fin fish should be eaten from waters with visible oil contamination."